| Frederic Madre on Fri, 24 Mar 2000 12:44:37 +0100 (CET) |
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| [nettime-fr] [copyleft_attitude par Carl Steadman] |
Nobody knows you're a slacker, if you use e-mail correctly. Here's how.
By Carl Steadman
A coworker e-mails you, informing you
that your company's Web site is in a
dot-coma. What is your reply?
a."I take full responsibility. I should
have foreseen this."
b."Bali is overrated, anyway. I won't
rest until it's fixed."
c."Were you always this incompetent,
or did it set in only after your first
day?"
Bzzzt! Unless you answered "d. None of
the above," you're in some serious trouble.
Trick question? Learn the tricks of the
trade, and start e-mailing like a pro!
Nobody Knows You're a Slacker
Even before you signed your first
stock-option agreement you probably had
at least some familiarity with e-mail. One
person sends a message to someone else,
which calls for a reply, which garners
another, and so on and so forth until the
two meet in person, at which point it's realized at least one
correspondent is a dog sometimes literally.
Forget all that, along with everything else you know about e-mail.
(Except maybe that thing with your name and the "@" in the middle.)
So what is e-mail? Why, it's a fun, happy place to while away your
days, while maintaining the illusion of being a productive member of
the brave new workforce.
A 10-day Waiting Period
Today's knowledge worker does little else but e-mail. You should be
constantly monitoring your e-mail, filtering your e-mail, perhaps even
reading it. Just be careful not to write any.
E-mail creates a "paper" trail. Rest assured, hastily formed opinions
such as "the mailing list went out in triplicate" will only come back to
haunt you later. And the "it was forged" excuse stops working after
the first 20 times or so. So when should you reply? DON'T reply:
1.On the first request.
2.On the second request.
3.After multiple pleas for you to reply with something, anything
even to state that you have no intention of ever replying.
4.Ever.
Automatic Writing
It's often best, of course, to avoid temptation, and not read your
e-mail at all. This is probably easier than you think!
Consult your e-mail software's friendly animated assistant for help in
setting up an auto response to each incoming message. Nothing too
involved; just a short note that might be mistaken for a hastily
composed reply:
"Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I'm sorry I can't reply in
more detail right now, but I promise to put at least as much thought
into the matter as you so obviously did."
For that air of authenticity, toss in a few typos. Or mark the
response as highest priority or "Urgent," which will ensure your
message is completely ignored.
Be Brief
If you must provide a personalized response, make your replies
concise to the point of being cryptic. After all, you don't want it to
appear as if you spend all day doing e-mail instead of real work. The
best replies are one-liners that are vaguely approving, yet dismissive.
Try "Thanks for thinking about this," "I appreciate the heads up," or
our favorite, "It's amazing you found the time to do this."
Tip: If a recipient complains about one of your two-word answers,
simply say "I sent that from my Palm VII." You're home free!
Fun with Forwards
E-mail is never boring! Don't forget to "mistakenly" forward anything
potentially embarrassing, incriminating or open to misinterpretation.
Prefix a fake response that was obviously intended for some other
recipient, and send to the party who will take the most offense. Sit
back and watch the fur fly!
----
commentaire de f.
dans le monde de l'art, il faut penser à ajouter
sorry for cross-posting!
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